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All research masters are good stepping-stones to a PhD position,
or other research careers. Depending on your choice of programme,
you are also prepared for a career in the IT industry, in speech
technology, clinical linguistics or speech and language
therapy.

All research masters are good stepping-stones to a PhD position,
or other research careers. Depending on your choice of programme,
you are also prepared for a career in the IT industry, in speech
technology, clinical linguistics or speech and language
therapy.

While I was in the third year of my Bachelor's degree programme
in English Linguistics in Serbia, two of my classmates did a 1-year
exchange at the University of Groningen. They were so enthusiastic
about everything to do with Linguistics in Groningen: the
programme, the lecturers, the new things they learned.

That’s why I chose the Research Master’s in
Linguistics at the University of Groningen following my
Bachelor’s programme. It sounded like a great opportunity to
get into the field of linguistic research. And I have never
regretted my decision.

In the two years of the programme I learned all the
research skills that I was going to need for my PhD, from critical
thinking to writing research papers. I conducted a number of small,
practical research projects, so the programme felt very interesting
and dynamic, and the lecturers were always incredibly enthusiastic
and ready to help. Not only was the programme itself good, I also
very much enjoyed living in Groningen, a small but beautiful and
vibrant student city.

I am currently studying for a PhD at the University of
Amsterdam, conducting research on language learning in adults. My
MA programme and the lecturers involved in it were ideal
preparation for my PhD research; I rely on many research skills
that I acquired in Groningen, such as critical thinking, designing
experiments, analysing data from experiments and writing academic
papers. I’m really grateful for all the programme taught me.
Thanks to this solid foundation, a PhD doesn’t feel like a
difficult undertaking. I would very much like to continue doing
research in my future career, but I would also like to combine it
with more applied work, such as developing new language teaching
methods and materials.

In the final year of my bachelor studies in computer science, I
decided that I wanted to do a master where I would be able to apply
my knowledge about the field. When I heard about the Master's track
in LCT, I applied immediately. I got in, which allowed me the
possibility to stay for an other year in the city of Groningen.

What attracted me in studying at the UG, was that it is a
transparant university. I could easily access course
descriptions and materials. What I also liked, was that I had the
possibility to take courses outside my faculty. For example in
philosophy. Besides studying, I did a lot of sports like
fencing, swimming and horse riding. The student life experience in
Groningen was amazing for me.

During my study, I got an internship at Paylogic (a
ticketing company based in Groningen). Later, I've joined Paylogic
as a backend developer and I gained a PhD position at Queen Mary
University of London. Here I work on Distributional Semantics,
looking at the meaning of representations of words and
phrases. Currently, I am in the final year of my PhD and I am
looking for postdoc positions. Who knows, maybe there will be one
in Groningen!

My name is Isolde van Dorst (21) and I am currently
studying the Erasmus Mundus Language and Communication
Technologies. Before this, I studied the bachelor English Language
and Culture here at the University of Groningen as well.

Why Groningen?

I chose this Master's track because I was interested in
linguistics (through my bachelor), but I also wanted to expand into
a different direction than I was able to during my bachelor. As I
already went abroad during my bachelor, I knew I would enjoy that
part of this programme very much as well. However, I did decide to
still apply for a place at the University of Groningen, in my home
country, because I really enjoy the enthusiasm and passion that the
teachers have here. In addition, it is a high ranking university
that would help me develop as a person as well as a
student.

Future

After finishing my Master's track I am hoping to either
get a PhD position in computational linguistics or find a job that
allows me to travel as well as inspires me to continue expanding my
knowledge.

I decided to apply for EMCL because I aspired for a career in
academia. I requested coming to UG for two semesters because I had
a particular interest in aphasia, and therefore I wanted to work
with Prof. Roelien Bastiaanse. That was a good decision! The city
of Groningen is simply charming, and the University has impressive
facilities.

As for the courses, I particularly enjoyed the research-oriented
teaching methodology. By the end of the taught semesters, I did not
feel stressed about coming up with my own ideas for a thesis. This
also prepared me for writing an application for a PhD position.

I am currently a third-year PhD student in the International
Doctorate in Experimental Approaches to Language and Brain
(IDEALAB). I have travelled between IDEALAB partner universities in
Italy, Australia and The Netherlands (Groningen), where I am
supervised by internationally renowned researchers, and I have
access to neuroimaging and neuromodulation techniques which I was
able to use during my experiments. The fact that I had already
learned about Event Related Potentials (ERPs) during EMCL, made it
easier for me to address my PhD topic from different
perspectives.

EMCL has strengthen my desire to pursuit an academic career. I
am confident that the network that I have established and the
skills that I have acquired in the past five years will be key to
reach my goals.